With its factory tuning and data center DNA, an Intel 730 series SSD is an
amazing choice for gamers and performance enthusiasts. Welcome to my
review of the Audio Technica ATTH
AG1s. So, let's start with a physical overview. Man, they absolutely nailed
the looks of these things in my opinion. matte black with gold accents that look
sharp and hint at the high performance nature of the product without turning
into the over-the-top gamer bling. Very, very nice. The ear cups themselves have
a soft fabric on the inside to cushion your earlobes against the angled drivers
inside the ear cups and feature a padded pleather outer cushion that is very soft
against the skin while not necessarily being the most realistic feeling faux
leather that I've ever encountered. The 3D wing headband design boasts
convenient, no adjustments necessary
compatibility with any head. And like
anything designed to be one sizefits-all, doesn't fit perfectly on
everyone. Personally, I found it made me acutely aware of the two spots on my
head where the weight of the headphones were hanging, but at least due to the
lightweight design of the AG1s, it didn't cause me any discomfort even
after a couple hours of continuous use. The other issue for me with these is
that they just plain don't stay on for me. The left side of the headset is
slightly heavier than the right side due to the cable and the microphone. So, I
found that that side sags more than the other side. And because the materials on
the top pads and the ear cups, while soft and cushy and nice, are also a
little bit slippery, they don't really do anything to help them stay on. There
is an easy fix, however, a band-aid
solution, if you will. Just put an elastic band between the wings like so.
You'll have to experiment with the right size elastic. And I found that once I
found the perfect elastic, it addressed all the issues that I had with them and
they were both comfortable and stayed on just fine. One way Audio Technica could
fix this for me would be to include some tasteful black or gold elastics that
come with the headphones and I can try whichever one fits perfectly for me so I
don't need to use some janky solution. But on a future product, I'd just much
rather have a full headband for comfort and convenience. I mean, lots of gamers
that I know hang their headsets around their necks or pull one ear off to hear
the things around them. And I found that around the neck puts the plastic support
bars directly against your neck. Oops. And taking off one ear cup makes them
basically fall right off for me. Another oops. The good news is that the elastic
that I needed to make them stay on my head in the first place also helps with
these issues. While I'm picking on the ergonomics of the product, though, I
wish that the mic had a wider range of motion. It's 100° as it is. Um, so that
it's not always kind of hanging in my peripheral vision when I'm not using it.
Um, I mean, this last complaint in particular looks like it could be very
easily addressed simply by removing a little plastic stopper here so that it
folds up a little bit higher. It comes with a 1 m cable pre-attached that
terminates in a four- pole connector for compatibility with mobile devices or the
included USB sound card. and it is not detachable, but it is very robust
feeling. So, I doubt it will ever need to be replaced. And I'd rather have a
solid pre-attached cable than a proprietary or fragile removable one. If
I had any complaints about the cable, it would be that perhaps it's a little bit
too stiff. And another 8 to 12 inches of length would help me uh get it not only
to the front audio connector, but also kind of, you know, routed a little bit
further down so it's not anywhere near my arms, especially if my tower is next
to me. Audio Technica does include a 2meter extension that splits into two
three poles to work with your analog sound card and to help you reach around to the back of your computer, but it
doesn't address folks who might want to use the surprisingly decent USB sound
card that can easily drive these headphones past comfortable audio levels
without distortion, but have it in the back of their system where they can't
see it because these don't go in here. So, a four-pole extension with a small
pigtail adapter would have been a more versatile solution, allowing front
analog, rear analog, front USB, and rear USB operation, all without a trip to the
store for an extra adapter. Back to the mic for a moment. It is a very premium
feeling. The flexible boom is outstanding and it can be easily
positioned exactly where you need it. This is a big complaint I have about a
lot of microphones and not this one. It also features a nearby mute button
that's nice and easy to reach, but is unfortunately not automatically
triggered when you move the microphone up out of the way like some other
headsets in this price range. Now, let's move on to listening tests. All
listening tests were done on a stack in a Titanfall game stream or with
my usual mix of top 40 music. And I'll say this, the AG1s have a much more
balanced frequency response than you'll typically find on a gaming headset. nice
accurate and clear highs, rich mids, and
punchy, strong, but not overpowering lows. I haven't tried the open back at
ADG ones, but man, I don't think I care.
Even though I got the closed version, it's amazing how natural they sound.
They do such a great job of not making me feel like I'm in a tiny little cave
with a plastic speaker mounting apparatus clamped to my head. I mean,
sure, that's what's actually going on here, but that doesn't mean I want to
confront that reality. I'm in my zone, right? And even more impressively,
because of their DADS or double air damping system, they don't leak sound.
That translates into better positional audio because your left ear can't
accidentally hear right channel sound and more immersive gaming since you'll
never be bothered by annoying spouses, children, pets, and I mean, hell, the
apocalypse could probably happen with these on, and I wouldn't notice that either. The other real world benefit of
their isolation is that you also won't bother those other folks with whatever
you're listening to, whether it's games or music. Now, because of their price,
they end up in sideby-side listening tests against some tough competition,
though. By comparison, the AKG K72s are
much harder to drive, having much higher impedance and similar bass response, but
lack some oomph in the mid-range and have more sparkle at the high end.
Something that some people prefer, but past a certain point, I find fatiguing
to listen to. I do prefer AKG's suspension headband implementation, but
I really do not prefer the hard foam that they use on the ear cups compared
to this nice soft stuff. I also dug my PC 350s, which are still quite similar
to the current model high-end closedback from Sennheiser, out of a bin where I
found them at Luke's place. He's so fired. Uh mids were strong on these,
similar to the ATS, but the highs were comparably veiled, something that may be
an issue when pinpointing in-game sounds. and their base, while strong and
punchy, only really delivers if I press them against my head to seal them
because I think Sennheiser was designing these for elves. These are also really
hard to drive for a gaming headphone. My last competitor was the DT770s from
Bernamic, and it's obvious why these have such a good reputation. I've got
the 80 ohm impedance version, and apart from being much more difficult to drive
and sounding a little bit bassier, they were, I'd say, equally pleasing to
listen to. Noise isolation is not as strong though, and this is likely partly
due to the cloth ear cups. And obviously, they have no included mic or
included USB sound card, but then again, they are less expensive overall. Now,
speaking of the included mic, let's get into microphone quality. This headset
will be the first entry into our new standardized mic testing system. I'm
going to record three test phrases on an ASUS Thunderx external sound card. one
like I'm having a conversation with someone on Skype, one like I'm excited
in the middle of a game, and one like I'm speaking quietly um so as not to
wake the baby. I'm going to link to these sound clips in the video description. For your convenience,
though, here is a clip from this headset that should basically make you want to
go buy it right now. Holy actual balls.
The mic on the AG1 is unreal. If you didn't tell me this mic was integrated
on a gaming headset, I would believe it was a much more expensive standalone
solution. Bravo Audio Technica. I guess that's what some audio engineering
expertise brings to the gaming headset scene. So, the conclusion for this
product is this great first attempt.
Audio Technica took a new market, one that they admittedly haven't addressed
before and designed a product for it that is really solid. It sounds great in
games. I mean, good headphones sound good in games and will satisfy all but
the most discerning audio files when it comes to music enjoyment as well. And I
mean, when I say discerning, I don't mean in terms of quality. They sound great. It's just that some people prefer
a slightly different sound signature for music enjoyment versus gaming. That's
all. They've got a fantastic microphone on here. And apart from a few ergonomic
complaints, which I covered pretty thoroughly in the video, this is pretty
much as good as I could expect a gaming headset to be. The drawback, I mean,
well, it's linked in the video description if you want to buy one, but
prepare yourself because the price tag reflects the premium quality of the
product, is price. They are very
expensive, but sometimes you get what you pay for. Speaking of getting what
you pay for, audible.com, I swear, with over 150,000 audio books available to
download at a moment's notice and listen to on your phone or in your car or on
your headphones. See how these things went together so nicely? Oh, sorry, I
got distracted there. The point is that whenever you wherever you happen to be,
these guys seem to have everything. One of the hot items on the bestseller list
right now is an original story called Doctor Who Dead Air that is not only
about the 10th Doctor, but also happens to be voiced by David Tennant. So, if
like me, you didn't get enough of him in his relatively long but still too short
run as the doctor, you can easily get your fix by signing up for a free trial
of Audible's monthly audiobook service. The first one is free, and if you decide
you like it, you'll get an audio book of your choice every month to enjoy. Just
head over to audible.com/Linus to learn more. Guys, like and share this video if
you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it, and leave a comment on the Linus
Tech Tips forum linked in the video description if you want to discuss this product or you have constructive
criticism for me and my team. Also linked in the video description is our
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